Document stacking device



June 30, 1964 E. P. MAIDMENT DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed July 3, 1961 lllll INVENTOR. EARL I? MAIDMENTI A T TORNE Y.

June 30, 1964 E. P. MAIDMENT 3,139,273

DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE Filed July 3. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 36 2 I 3- &:7

82 INVENTOR.

. EARL F? MAIDMENI II 80 BY ATTORNEY June 30, 1964 E. P. MAIDMENTDOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 3. 1961 Fig. 6.

IN VEN TOR. EARL P. MAIDMENT.

M w l w a ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,139,278 DOQIJMENT STACKING DEVICE Earl P.Maidment, Royal Oak, Mich, assignor to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit,Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed July 3, 1961, Ser. No. 121,418 '2Claims. (Cl. 271--71) This invention relates generally to sheettransporting apparatus and particularly to a sheet stacking devicetherefor.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide in a paper sheetstacking device to which sheets are singly fed on edge and at highvelocity, an improved sheet stacking bin so constructed that thecomponents thereof function to successfully stack sheets that varywidely with respect to size, thickness, rigidity and grade of paper.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a paper sheet stackingdevice to which a sheet is fed on edge and at high velocity, an improvedsheet stacking bin construction for effecting positive control of thetravel of the sheet from the entrance of the sheet into the bin to thefinal stacked position of the sheet.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved sheet stackingdevice of the above mentioned character in which the danger of a sheetpassing behind the trailing edge of the next preceding check in the binis eliminated by the particular construction of the bin.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of animproved sheet stacking bin, the construction of which efiects a changein direction of travel of a sheet from one side of the bin to the otherto insure proper stacking of the sheets.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetail description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet stacking device embodyingfeatures of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view shown substantially in plan;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view, taken along the line 3-3 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is another vertical sectional view, taken along the line 66 ofFIG. 2, and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing a modification of the sheetstacking device.

In the drawings there is shown a portion of a sheet or check sortingapparatus which comprises, in general, a supporting structure, includingbase structural members 10, a plurality of sheet or check stackingdevices 12, of which only one is shown, and a raceway 14 to guide asheet or check to the stacking device 12. The raceway 14 and the checkstacking device 12 are mounted on the base 10 with the raceway extendinglongitudinally of the base along what may be termed the back of thebase, and the stacking device 12 arranged to extend laterally of theraceway toward the front of the base. Any suitable means may be employedto propel checks along the raceway 14, such as a high speed belt (notshown). For a detail description of the sheet or check sortingapparatus, reference may be had to the patents of John W. Smith, Numbers2,970,836 and 2,944,813.

3,139,278 Patented June 30., 1964 "ice Mounted on the base 10 there is abed which is preferably inclined downwardly from the rear to the frontof the base and is constructed of a rear plate 16 and a front plate 18.In the present construction, the bed plate 18 is offset upwardly fromthe bed plate 16, providing a step between the front and rear plates asbest shown in FIG. 3.

The card stacking device 12 is mounted on the bed and includes a bin 22having an upper or rear inlet 23 to which checks, as at 24, are fedsingly on edge from the raceway 14 at high velocity. As shown, theraceway 14 guides a check to the bight of a pair of check feedingrollers including a pressure roller 25 and a driven roller 26 and thencurves partially about the periphery of roller 26 having an outlet orcheck discharge end 27 directed toward the bin inlet 23. Anterior to theraceway outlet 27, a pressure roller 28 forms a bight with and is drivenby roller 26 and from the bight of the rollers 26, 28 the check is fedto the bight of a second pair of rollers including a pressure roller 29and a driving roller 30, located adjacent the bin inlet 23. As shown inFIGS. 1 and 4, a pair of vertically spaced apart check guide members orplates 33 and 34 extend between the bights of the pairs of rollers 26,28 and 29, 30 and project into the bin 22, forming in part the bin inlet23. Transversely thereof, the guide plates 33 and 34 are arcuatelyformed or rounded and are arranged to present their convex surfacesbroadside to the check, the purpose being to induce the check,particularly thin flexible checks to assume the rounded shape of theguide members so as to increase the rigidity of the paper.

With respect to the driving connections between the several checkfeeding rollers, the rollers 25, 28 and 29 are similar in that theperiphery of each is provided with a rubber facing or tire 36 toincrease driving friction with rollers 26 and 30 and with the checks. Adriving pulley 38 beneath the bed plate 18 at the forward edge thereofdrives the roller 30 through a belt drive 40 and a suitable pulley 41,the roller 30 in turn driving the pressure roller 29. The pressureroller 29 drives the pressure roller 28 through a suitable driving belt42 and the roller 28 drives the roller 26 which in turn drives thepressure roller 25. Insofar as the present invention is affected, anysuitable driving arrangement may be employed to drive the severalrollers. The pressure rollers 28 and 29 may be rotatably mountedrespectively on a pair of arms 44 and 46, pivoted on a common support 48and be yieldably urged toward their respective rollers 26 and 30 bytension springs 50.

In accordance with my invention, I construct the bin 22 such that itsstructural components perform the functions of feeding, guiding andmanipulating checks and thus constitute the check stacking device. Thebin comprises an end wall 52, abin side wall including a stationaryguide ,wall portion 54 plus a check feeding portion or feeding belts 56,and an opposite side wall or moveable backup plate 58. The end wall 52,side wall portions 54, 56, and the back-up plate 58 are all mounted onthe bed plate 18 which forms the bottom wall of the bin 22. Thestationary side wall portion 54 of the bin 22 extends from the bin inlet23 downwardly toward the bin end wall 52 and curved upper end to a flatlower end 55. This flat lower end 55 is disposed adjacent the belt wherethe belts travel about the pulleys 6%, the end 55 being substantiallytangent to the belts. From the terminus of the stationary side wallportion 54-, the trailing sides of the feed belts 56 extendsubstantially to the bin end wall 52, thus forming a composite side wallof bin 22 comprising stationary and moving portions. These wall portionsare relatively angularly disposed with the stationary portion 54arranged at an obtuse angle to end wall 52 and wall portion 56 arrangedat an acute angle to the end wall such that these wall portions have anapex 57 on the bin side of the structure to effect a change in thedirection of travel of the checks as they proceed in the bin to the binend wall. The check back-up plate 58 is mounted for movement broadsideaway from the side wall portions 54 and 56 and the back-up plate properis parallel to the belt trailing sides, as shown and forms a V-shapedthroat, as at 6i) with the stationary Wall portion 54;. The apex of theV-shaped throat directs a check into a bight formed by the curvature ofthe belts 56 where they travel about the pulleys 68 and by the back-upplate 53 or last card on the stack, as the case may be. Integral withthe lower edge of the back-up plate 58, a laterally extending checksupporting tab 61 is preferably provided for carrying the sheet stackwith the back-up plate.

Overlying the discharge ends of the belts 56 there is a channel-shaperetainer 62 for a resilient bumper 64 against which the leading edges ofeach check strikes so as to avoid damage to the check. The retainer 62is mounted on and interposed in the bin end wall 52 and has an extendedside, as at 66, to form a corner of the bin 22.

The belts 56 are of the endless type and travel respectively aboutdriven pulleys 68 that are located at the apex of the wall portion 54and belts 56, and about similar corresponding idler pulleys '76 that arelocated adjacent the bumper 64. As shown in FIG. 6, the driven pulleys68 are fixed onto an upright driven shaft 72, above the bed plate 18 andare spaced apart by tubular spacer members 7 as shown in FIG. 6. A sheetmetal belt guard 76 is preferably provided and has slotlike clearanceapertures for receiving the belts 56 and pulleys 68 and 70. Below thebed plate 18, a pulley 78 is fixed onto the shaft 72 and is driven froma pulley S ll through a suitable belt drive 2-32, as shown inFIGS. 2 and6. The idler pulleys 70 are similar to the driven pulleys 68 and rotateon an upright shaft 84, suitably mounted on the bed plate 18. In orderto avoid undue rebounding of a check from the resilient bumper 64, thesurface speed of the feed belts 56 is made less than the surface speedof the feed rollers 29, 30, the difierential between the speedseffecting a braking action on the check.

The back-up plate 53 preferably carries a roller 86 on its upper endthatis guided in a channel-shape guide member 88 and at its lower end isattached by a bracket 99 to a sleeve92 which is slidably guided on afixed rod 94. A bracket 95 is mounted on the lower edge of the bed plate18 and an upturned flange thereof provides the end wall 52 of the bin22. End flanges of the bracket $6 are provided to support the guide rod94 which has its opposite ends respectively fixed to the flanges. Ayieldable member in the form of a weight 98 urges the backup plate 58toward the belts 56, the weight being con nected to the back-up plate bya cord Mil which preferably passes over a guide pulley 102.

In operation, checks are fed singly along the raceway 14 to the rollers25, 26, 28, 29 and 30 which then feed the check into the bin 22 alongthe guide plates 33 and 34, the high speed of the check and suddenchange in its direction of travel toward the bin inlet 23 causing thecheck to be forced broadside against the guide plates. As a consequence,the check wraps about and conforms to the curvature of the plates 33, 34to increase the rigidity of the check. From the plates 53, 34, the checkproceeds along the stationary bin wall portion 54, the progressivelychanging curvature of which straightens the check such that at the end55 of the wall portion 54, the leading end of the check has beenstraightened for proper presentation to the bight formed by rollers 68and the back-up plate 58. At the bight of rollers 68 with the back-upplate 58, the direction of the. check travel is altered by the angularposition of the back-up plate 58 and the feed belts 56 feed the checkdownwardly in the bin 52 until the leading edge of the check engages theface of the bumper 64., Any tendency of the check to rebound from thebumper 64 is opposed by the belts 56. In this check stacking device, thecheck, enroute to its stacked position in bin 22, is always in contactwith at least one of the several check feed means as opposed to freeflight so as to lessen the danger of check jams at the stacking bin 22.Also in this check stacking device, the check is decelerated as it comesinto contact with the belts 56 which, as previously mentioned, have alower surface speed than the surface speed of the feed rollers wherebyto effect a braking action against the check.

Referring now to the modification of FIG. 7, this check stacking deviceis similar to the device of FIGS. 1 to 6 and therefore like parts aredesignated by like reference characters to avoid unnecessary repetitiousdescription. The modification diiiers from the previously describedcheck stacking device in the construction of the bin side wall which isformed entirely by the lead sides of the plurality of parallel checkfeed belts 55. In addition to the belt pulleys 6?: and 7% there isprovided a similar group of guide pulleys 104 which are in spacedrelation on an upright shaft 166 adjacent the inlet 23 to the bin. Thecheck feed belts 55 travel about the pulleys 70 and 1426 in contact withthe intermediate pulleys 68. As shown, the groups of pulleys 7t), 68,and 104 are arranged such that the lead sides of the belts 55 betweenpulleys 194 and 68 travel a path in a vertical plane which is at anobtuse angle less than to the bin end wall 52 and then change directionat pulleys d8 and travel in a vertical plane to pulleys 763 at an acuteangle to bin end wall 52. Thus, the belts 55 form a moving or checkfeeding side wall of bin 22 which carries the check from the bin inlet23 to the back-up plate 58 where the direction of check travel ischanged and the check is fed by the belts 55 downwardly to the bumper atthe corner of the bin.

While I have shown and described my check stacking devices inconsiderable detail, it will be understood that many variations may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a paper sheet handling apparatus having means to feed sheetssingly along a guided path of travel, a sheet stacking bin comprising asheet guide member positioned along the path of travel forming in partone side of the bin and an inlet thereto, an end wall, a sheet teedroller positioned between and closer to the bin inlet than to said binend wall, said guide member having a configuration on the bin sidediminishing from a convex surface adjacent said inlet to a flat surfacetangential to said roller in a vertical plane disposed on an acute angleto and intersecting a second vertical plane normal to said end wall andtangential to said roller, a second sheet guide member on the same sideof said second vertical plane as said first guide member and'saidroller, said second guide member tangential to said roller and extendingtherefrom toward said end wall at an acute angle to saidsecond-mentioned plane, and a movable back-up member substantiallyparallel to said second guide member.

2. In a paper sheet handling apparatus having means to feed sheetssingly along a guided path of travel, a sheet stacking bin comprising afirst sheet guide member positioned along the path of travel forming inpart one side of the bin and an inlet thereto, a bin end wall, a sheetfeed roller positioned between and closer to said inlet than to said endwall, said guide member having a configuration on the bin side theerof,diminishing at a uni form rate of change as a continuous surface fromone end References Cited in the file of this patent thereof adjacentsaid inlet to a flat end tangential to the UNITED STATES PATENTS2,856,187 Burckhardt et a1. Oct. '14, 1958 tangential to said roller andextending therefrom substan- 5 2,884,243 Stobb Apr. 28, 1959 tlally tosaid bin end wall at an acute angle to said plane, 2,933,313 Stobb Apr.19, 1960 send first and second guide members and said roller co-2,944,813 Smith July 12 1960 operating in the forming of the said oneside of the bin, 2 970 Smith 7 19 1 and a movable back-up membersubstantially parallel to 3,051,332 Richer: et a1, Aug. 28, 1962 7 saidsecond guide member and forming the other side of 10 3,078,089 MaidmentFeb. 19, 1963 the bin. 3,079,151 Maidment Feb. 26, 1963

1. IN A PAPER SHEET HANDLING APPARATUS HAVING MEANS TO FEED SHEETSSINGLY ALONG A GUIDED PATH OF TRAVEL, A SHEET STACKING BIN COMPRISING ASHEET GUIDE MEMBERS POSITIONED ALONG THE PATH OF TRAVEL FORMING IN PARTONE SIDE OF THE BIN AND AN INLET THERETO, AN END WALL, A SHEET FEEDROLLER POSITIONED BETWEEN AND CLOSER TO THE BIN INLET THAN TO SAID BINEND WALL, SAID GUIDE MEMBER HAVING A CONFIGURATION ON THE BIN SIDEDIMINISHING FROM A CONVEX SURFACE ADJACENT SAID INLET TO A FLAT SURFACETANGENTIAL TO SAID ROLLER IN VERTICAL PLANE DISPOSED ON AN ACUTE ANGLETO AND IN-